COUNTDOWN TO WELSH RUGBY DERBIES IS ON AFTER TEAMS’ COVID TESTS
WELSH rugby’s derbies will go ahead this weekend after no further positive coronavirus tests were recorded following Jamie Roberts’ contracting Covid-19.
Reports emerged on Tuesday that Welsh international and new Dragons signing Roberts had tested positive for coronavirus.
This prompted Dragons players and coaches to be tested on Tuesday, with the Welsh Rugby Union confirming on Thursday that no further positive test results have been recorded to date.
An update issued by the WRU said a further 288 Covid-19 tests have been conducted this week. Combined with a previous 1,377, it takes the total in Welsh rugby’s testing programme to 1,665.
A spokesman said there have been no additional positive tests recorded at this point, and the number of positive tests to date remains at one.
Experienced centre Roberts, whose test was conducted last week, is in good health and is now isolating.
He was not tested in the latest round of Welsh rugby’s testing programme.
The WRU say all Public Health Wales and Government guidelines have been followed.
If more positive tests had been recorded, it would have thrown the return of PRO14 rugby in Wales into serious doubt.
Scarlets host Cardiff Blues tomorrow, while Dragons face Ospreys a day later on Sunday.
JONATHAN Evans has swapped his kit for a shirt and tie, with his dream life as a professional rugby player having come to an abrupt end at 28.
Having suffered the shock of being released by the Scarlets, the scrumhalf has been unable to secure a contract elsewhere amid Covid-related cuts.
So, he has had to head into the “real world” in search of employment.
That has seen him putting together a CV and applying for jobs online for the first time in his life.
But his efforts have paid off, with the Penallta-product securing a new career in teacher recruitment.
It was in early March he received the bad news that he was not being kept on by the Scarlets, who he had been with since 2016, having previously spent five years with the Dragons.
“It was quite late on. Usually contracts are sorted by January, but the World Cup knocked recruitment back by a couple of months, so it didn’t really seem strange for them to be leaving it that late,” he said.
“It was a heck of a surprise when they told me. I was hoping they were going to re-sign me.
“It wasn’t a huge amount of time prior to lockdown happening and then, when the game of rugby stopped, everyone was hesitant with their recruitment.”
But it did seem as though Evans might have an opportunity with a club out in France.
“I was nearly going there up until the middle of July,” he revealed.
“I had a deal to go out there, but it was all reliant on the Beziers takeover – which was going to make a lot of players move within France - and that fell through.
“So then the recruitment that was happening over there all stopped.
“I was pretty close to agreeing something, but it just didn’t happen.”
That left Evans in limbo at the worst possible time, given the impact of the pandemic and the market in his position.
“It’s a really bad year for scrum
half recruitment. Not many nines have moved,” he said.
“And, when coronavirus hit, everyone’s recruitment just stopped.
“There just wasn’t anybody looking for players at the time. They were all looking to save money, rather than spend it.”
So, come the middle of last month, the father-of-one reached the decision that he was going to have to knock professional rugby on the head and seek employment in another walk of life.
“My Scarlets contract ended in June and I had to make a decision whether I was going to wait it out and have no money coming in or if I was going to start looking for a job,” he said.
“So I started working with Adam and Dan at the WRPA. In fairness to those two, they were really helpful, considering everything that was going on with the renegotiations at the time.
“They helped me a lot in getting ready and I also worked with a company called World After Sport. Martin there has offered me some help.
“As a sportsman, you are told to prepare for when you are not involved in sport, but I didn’t expect it to happen when it did.
“I thought I had four or five years left in professional sport.
“So it was something I had to sort out pretty quickly.
“I had never written a CV before. That was something that was interesting.
“I had never done an online application before either.
“It was all like getting into the real world.
“Thankfully, I’ve come across this job with Apollo Teaching Services, based in Bridgend.
“I went for an interview with them and they offered me the job. I started with them this week.
“What is quite funny is I turned up to my training on Monday and Tom Habberfield is training with me, so there’s actually a familiar face there.
“He was in a similar boat a year ago and it’s just strange how we have ended up in the same place.”
Evans’ job will see him working as a recruitment consultant for teachers, support staff and anyone within the schools system.
“The first thing I did was ask myself what I was good at in rugby and one of the things I was good at was talking to people,” he explained.
“As a scrum-half, being able to talk all the time does help.
“I felt everywhere I went in rugby, I got on with the organisation in and around the game.
“One of my strengths was being able to go and speak to people and create a rapport with them.
“That’s what I looked toward and this job came up and it just seems really interesting.
“It’s about performing under pressure and that’s what I’ve done for the last ten years.
“I have now embarked on a new adventure in the ‘real world’ and swapped my kit for a shirt and tie.”
He admits his new way of life has been a bit of a shock to the system initially.
“I came home from work on Monday and I was exhausted,” he said.
“It’s a completely different type of exhaustion to what I’m used to.
“I’m used to being physically exhausted. Having to mentally concentrate for that many hours is something I haven’t done since university or even school really.”
While he’s begun a new chapter in his work career, Evans isn’t throwing his boots away just yet.
“I’m definitely not done with rugby,” he said.
“I’m not giving up on it. But, even at Welsh Premiership level, they are not recruiting either at the moment.
“I have spoken to a number of teams because I know a lot of people within Premiership clubs. I played for enough of them over the years. A lot of the feedback I am getting is we would love to have you but at the moment we can’t recruit because we don’t know where we are going to be in three months, six months time.
“Nobody knows what’s happening, so nobody can make plans.
“They don’t know when rugby is going to come back and what funding they are going to get.
“At the moment, I have gone back to my local club, Bargoed and I’ve just been training and keeping my fitness up with them.
“It’s been really good because I’ve been back with a lot of the boys I played youth rugby with.
“I have actually enjoyed the last few weeks of training. It’s been a good laugh.
“It’s been nice to see players who I played with from U11s up to youth rugby.
“I’ve also had a lot of nice comments, including ones from people I’ve played with, like Shaun Connor, Ian Gough. Steve ‘Jabba’ Jones. They’ve all been messaging me.”
After starting out with Bargoed, Evans was signed up by the Dragons in 2010, making his senior debut against the Ospreys in May of that year.
He made 83 appearances for the Gwent region in all over a five year stay, while also turning out for Newport, Bedwas and Cross Keys in the Premiership, as well as Bargoed.
A short spell at Bath was followed by a move to the Scarlets, where he spent four seasons, playing in two PRO14 finals, including the memorable 2017 victory over Munster at the Aviva Stadium. He missed his own stag do to play in the match.
“I’ve been able to live my dream of being a professional rugby player for the last ten years,” he said.
“I have really enjoyed it and I’m gutted it’s come to an end so soon and in the way it has.
“I haven’t really been able to say goodbye to everybody.
“Everyone thinks you are going to end with the big farewell, but it hasn’t been that.
“I don’t regret anything though. “Apart from the one year with injuries, which was tough, it’s been really good.
“But it’s a new world I’ve got to get used to now.”